The tide of fortune on the sea had now turned in favor of Great Britain. On the 14th of August, the Argus, of twenty guns, employed in carrying out Mr. Crawford, the American Minister to France, was met after having landed the minister off St. David's, at the mouth of the Irish channel, by the British brig Pelican, of eighteen guns, more heavily armed, though carrying fewer guns, and better manned than the Argus, so that, everything considered, the vessels were tolerably well matched. As a matter of course they fought, and the Pelican, one of the improved brigs, soon out-manœuvred and raked her antagonist. Captain Allen, of the Argus, fell at the first broadside. The Argus was ultimately obliged to surrender with a loss of six killed and seventeen wounded, her opponent having only three killed and five wounded.
It was not long after this that the British brig Boxer, of only fourteen guns and sixty-six men, fell a prize to the American brig Enterprise, of sixteen guns and one hundred and twenty men, but afterwards, throughout the war, single combats, where there was even an approach to equality, terminated in favor of the British. Captain Blythe, of the Boxer, and the commander of the Enterprise, Lieutenant Burrows, were buried in one grave, at Portland in Maine, with military honors.
Thus were the favors of Mars still balanced with tolerable fairness between the combatants.
Between Upper and Lower Canada the communication by either land or water, in summer, was very imperfect, during the war. There was then no Rideau Canal, connecting Kingston with the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence. And there was neither the Lachine, the Beauharnois, the Cornwall nor any other canal by which the dangers and difficulties of the St. Lawrence rapids might be avoided. Only batteaux and canoes plied between Upper and Lower Canada. A kind of flat-bottomed boat, of from 35 to 40 feet in length, and about six feet beam in the centre, carrying from four to four and a half tons, was only available for the transport of passengers, goods, wares, and merchandise. The boat was worked by oars, a mast and sail, drag-ropes for towing, and long poles for pushing them through the rapids, while the bow was kept towards the shore by a tow line held by the boat's crew or attached to horses. From ten to twelve days were occupied in the voyage from Montreal or Lachine to Kingston. To convey stores from Lachine to Kingston, during the war, required some tact. On one side of the river were the British batteries, while exactly opposite was an American fort or earthwork, which as the batteaux poled past Prescott or Brockville, could throw a round shot or two in their immediate vicinity without very much trouble. Indeed the Americans did very quietly send one or two cruisers and privateers to dodge about that marine paradise, the Thousand Islands, forming the delta of Lake Ontario, and covered to this day with timber to the water's edge, islands of all sizes and of all forms, gently rising out of the limpid rippling stream, or boldly standing forth from the deep blue water, presenting a rugged, rocky moss-clad front to the wonderstruck beholder. On the 20th of July, some cruisers from Sackett's Harbour, succeeded in surprising and capturing, at daybreak, a brigade of batteaux laden with provisions, under convoy of a gun-boat. They made off with their prize to Goose Creek, which is not far from Gananoque. At Kingston the loss of the supplies was soon ascertained, and Lieutenant Scott, of the Royal Navy, was despatched with a detachment of the 100th regiment, in gun-boats, to intercept the plunderers. At the lower end of Long Island, he ascertained the retreat of the enemy, and waited patiently for the morning. In the evening, still later, a fourth gun-boat with a detachment of the 41st regiment came up, and having passed the night in bright anticipations of glory, the rescuing gun-boats proceeded at three in the morning to Goose Creek. The enemy had gone well up and had judiciously entrenched themselves behind logs, while they had adopted the Russian plan of blocking up the entrance to their harbor where the Creek became so narrow that the attacking gun-boats found it necessary to pole up even that far. Lieutenant Scott set his men to work, to remove the barriers to his ingress, but a brisk fire soon caused him to desist, and indeed he was very nearly disabled. The only gun-boat that could be brought to bear upon the enemy was already disabled, and the consequences might have been disastrous but for the gallant conduct of the soldiers, who leaped from the sternmost boats, up to their necks, carrying their muskets high overhead, and charged the enemy on landing, causing them to retreat with precipitation behind their entrenchment. While this was being done, the gun-boats were got afloat and put to rights, and the soldiers expeditiously re-embarking the re-capture of the provisions was abandoned. Captain Milnes, a volunteer aid-de-camp to the Commander of the Forces, was killed.
A second boat expedition from Kingston failed, Sir James Yeo, conceived that he might out cut of Sackett's Harbour the new American ship Pike, the equipment of which Commodore Chancey was superintending. He arrived at the mouth of the harbor, but the enemy having accidentally heard of his errand, Sir James abandoned a scheme that could only have been effected by surprise. In July, the American fleet appeared on the lake with augmented force. Colonel Scott, with a company of artillery and a considerable number of other soldiers was on board, en route for Burlington Heights. He was most anxious to destroy the British stores there, the more especially as the place was only occupied by Major Maule, at the head of a small detachment of regulars. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant-General of the army, shrewdly suspecting the design of the enemy, despatched Colonel Battersby from York, who arrived in time to re-inforce Maule. Scott made no attack, but with the advice, or at all events, the concurrence of the commodore, did a much wiser thing. The expedition sailed upon York, which Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby had evacuated to save Burlington. A landing was effected at York, of course, without opposition; the storehouses, barracks, and public buildings were burned, and such stores as were worth carrying away, taken. In Lake Champlain, on the same afternoon, Colonel Murray and Captains Everard and Pringle were retaliating at Plattsburgh, Burlington, Champlain, and Swanton. Commodore Chancey having effected his purpose sailed for Niagara, whither he was followed by Sir James Yeo, and looked in upon on the 31st of July. Chancey, without loss of time, raised his anchors and stood out of the bay, bearing down upon the British squadron. Sir James manœuvred, keeping out of range, and indeed coquetted with the enemy, until he had an opportunity of pouncing upon two of his vessels, the Julia and Growler, which he cut off and captured. He still pursued the same tantalizing course of action, and Commodore Chancey became completely disheartened, when the Scourge of eight, and the Hamilton of nine guns, in endeavouring to escape from the British, capsized under a press of sail, and went down, all hands perishing, except sixteen who were picked up by the boats of the opposing squadron. Immediately after this disaster he stood off for Sackett's Harbour, and arrived there on the 13th of August. He merely took in provisions, however, and again sailed for Niagara, arriving there early in September. On the 7th the British fleet appeared off the harbour, and Chancey stood out into the lake. The two fleets manœuvred as before, avoiding close quarters, and indeed, for full five days, hardly exchanged a shot. But on the 28th of September, the fleets approached each other, and a sharp engagement ensued between the two flag ships. The Wolfe, in which Sir James Yeo's pendant was hoisted, lost her main and mizen topmasts, and only that the Royal George ran in between the Wolfe and the Pike, enabling the former to haul off and repair, the British flag ship would have been captured. As it was, Sir James Yeo made off with his fleet to take refuge under Burlington Heights.[21] Soon after, the American fleet took troops from Fort George to Sackett's Harbour, from whence an expedition was being fitted out, in the way, capturing five out of seven small vessels, from York, containing 250 men of DeWatteville's regiment, intended to reinforce the garrison at Kingston.
On the lakes of Upper Canada, the fair face of fortune was turned away from the British. As yet the capricious lady had only frowned, but now she was positively sulky. A serious and indeed dreadful disaster, which could not be afterwards repaired, but entailed loss upon loss to the British, occurred on Lake Erie. The British provinces were indeed exposed by it to the most imminent danger. At one blow all the advantages gained by Brocke were lost. On Lake Erie as on Lake Ontario, both the British and the Americans exerted themselves in the construction of war vessels. The great drawback to the British was the want of seamen. Captain Barclay, when appointed to the command on Lake Erie, in May, took with him fifty English seamen, to man two ships, two schooners, a brig and a sloop, the rest of the crews being made up of 240 soldiers and 80 Canadians. Captain Perry, the American commander, had two more vessels, an equal number of guns, double the weight of metal, and was fully manned by experienced seamen. Captain Barclay sailed from Amherstburgh and stretched his little squadron across the entrance to Presque Isle. The American squadron, under Perry, was riding at anchor, unable to put out, because the bar at the entrance of the harbour prevented it from crossing, except with the guns out, an operation not considered perfectly safe when done in the face of an enemy. Captain Barclay was under the necessity of momentarily leaving his station, and his opponent, Perry, crossed the bar. Barclay in turn became the blockaded party. He made with all haste for Amherstburgh and was shut in by Perry. Barclay practiced his soldiers at the guns, and learned his Canadians how to handle the ropes. He was indefatigable in his exertions to render his crew as efficient as such a crew could be made on shipboard. He yet feared to meet Perry and his picked crews, but his provisions fell short, and he was compelled to put out. The result was a battle, the last thing to have been desired, where so much depended on the issue. Victory was stoutly contested for on both sides. At 11 o'clock, on the forenoon of the 10th of September, the American squadron, consisting of nine vessels, and the British squadron, consisting of six vessels, formed in lines of battle. At a quarter before 12, Captain Barclay's ship, the Queen Charlotte, opened a tremendous fire upon the Lawrence, the flag ship of Commodore Perry. The Lawrence was torn to pieces. She became unmanageable. Except the Commodore and four or five others, every man on board was either killed or wounded. Perry abandoned her, and the colours were hauled down; but he only left one ship to rehoist his flag in another, as yet untouched. He boarded the Niagara, of twenty guns, and a breeze springing up behind his ships, which as yet had not been in action, he obtained the weather gage of the British, and made it necessary for them to wear round. It was in the endeavour to execute this manœuvre that Barclay lost the advantage. His inexperienced and, therefore, somewhat awkward sailors, became flurried, and the vessels fell foul of each other. They were for the most part jammed together, with their bows facing the enemy's broadside. Captain Perry saw his advantage and raked the Detroit, the Queen Charlotte, and Lady Prevost, at pleasure. The Chippewa and Little Belt had been separated from the other ships, and were hotly engaged by the Americans. The British line was, in a word, broken. The carnage was now dreadful, and the result awfully disastrous to the British. Barclay fell, severely wounded. Every officer was either killed or wounded. And two hundred out of three hundred and forty-five men were in a like condition. For three hours the battle raged, but at the end of that time the British squadron was capsized, and Perry, in imitation of Julius Cæsar, sent the message to Washington:—"We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Of the Americans, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six wounded.
This was a sore blow and terrible discouragement to Canada. Supplies of provisions were no longer obtainable by General Proctor from Kingston, and Michigan was, consequently, untenable. The speedy evacuation of Detroit, and a retreat towards the head of Lake Ontario, became inevitable. Commodore Perry could, at any moment, land a force in General Proctor's rear, and entirely cut him off from Kingston and York, and the lower part of Upper Canada. General Proctor at once retreated, abandoning and destroying all his fortified posts, beyond the Grand River. He dismantled first Detroit and then Amherstburgh, setting fire to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores, of the latter place. And he had just done so in time. As soon after the destruction of the British fleet, as circumstances would permit, Commodore Perry transported the American forces, under General Harrison, from Portage River and Fort Meigs, to Put-in-Bay, from whence they were conveyed to Amherstburgh, which they occupied on the 23rd of December. Proctor retreated through woods and morasses, upon the Thames, hotly pursued by Harrison. The brave Tecumseh, at the head of the Indians, endeavored to cover his retreat. But on the 4th of October, the enemy came so close upon the British rear as to succeed in capturing all their stores and ammunition. Destitute of the means of subsistence, worn down with fatigue, and low-spirited by misfortune, Proctor came to the determination of staking all on the hazard of a die. He resolved upon bringing the enemy to an engagement, and took up a position near the Moravian village upon the Thames. Tecumseh and his Indians assumed a position, well to the British right, in a thicket. Prescott drew out his right in line on a swamp, and supported it by a field piece, while his left stretched along, towards the Thames, supported by another field piece. The ground was not well chosen. Between Proctor and his enemy there was a dry or rather elevated piece of ground, covered with lofty trees, without underbrush. On the following day the enemy came up. Harrison drew up his army in two lines, the cavalry in front, and ordered the Kentucky Riflemen, commanded by Colonel Johnson, to charge the British, which they could not so easily or effectually have done, had the British been either on the summit of the wooded knoll or some distance behind the swamp. The Kentuckians slowly advanced through the wood, receiving two vollies from the British line, before they were out of it. It was then that they dashed forward at full speed, broke the British ranks, and wheeled about. Taken, as it were, suddenly, in the rear, Proctor's men became confused. To resist or to retreat was equally impossible. They could only retreat by forcing the American infantry, in front, and they could only resist by facing the Kentucky Riflemen in the rear, who had already ridden through them and had now raised their rifles to decimate them. The British threw down their arms and the Indians, with the exception of Tecumseh and a chosen few fled, yelling, through the woods. Tecumseh fought desperately, even with the mounted rifles. He sprang upon their leader, Colonel Johnson, wounded him and pulled him to the earth. But, at this moment, Johnson's faithful dragoons spurred to his rescue. Tecumseh was surrounded and pierced with bullets. Raising his hands aloft, to the great Father of all, this faithful ally and courageous savage, gave one last, stern, defiant look, at the foe, and breathed no more. General Proctor and his personal staff, with a few men, had previously sought safety by flight to Ancaster. And this remnant of the right division, including Proctor and seventeen officers, amounting to only two hundred and forty-six men, arrived at Ancaster on the 17th of October.
Harrison was greatly superior in numbers, and had cavalry, which Proctor was entirely without. The Kentucky cavalry were accustomed to fighting in the forest, and were expressly armed for it. Proctor did not exhibit ordinary judgment in his selection of ground. He had hardly time to cut down trees and to entrench himself, and the probability is that he was not aware of the enemy's possession of cavalry, and therefore was less prudent in his choice of ground than otherwise he would have been. Harrison, the American commander, had no less than 3,500 men with him, and as he captured only 25 British officers and 609 rank and file, all that surrendered, while two hundred and forty-six in all only escaped, the mishap to Proctor who was personally a brave officer, as he had repeatedly proved, ought not to have excited surprise. But the disaster following as it did, and as should have been expected, the calamity on Lake Erie, the Governor-in-Chief was highly incensed, and nearly sacrificed Proctor to public opinion. He abused him and his army in no measured terms, in general orders. He contrasted the conduct of the soldiery with that of Tecumseh and his Indians. He charged the Adjutant-General Reiffenstein with gross prevarication. He sneered at the captured, few of whom had been rescued by an honorable death from the ignominy of passing under the American yoke, and whose wounds pleaded little in mitigation of the reproach. The officers in retreating from Detroit, Sandwich and Malden, seemed to have been more anxious about their baggage than they had afterwards been about their honor. The enemy had attacked and defeated Proctor and his right division without a struggle. He could not indeed fully disclose to the British army the full extent of disgrace which had fallen upon a formerly deserving portion of the army. Sir George Prevost who had himself behaved so well at Sackett's Harbour, and who afterwards acted so honorably towards Commodore Downie, at Plattsburgh, did not spare an officer whom he had himself raised to the rank of Brigadier-General for previous gallantry in the field, and for distinguished success. Nay, he brought him to a Court Martial. The Court found that he had not retreated with judgment and had not judiciously disposed of his force, considering the extraordinary difficulties of his situation; but it further found that his personal conduct was neither defective nor reproachable. He was sentenced to be suspended from rank and pay for six months. George the Fourth, then Prince Regent, was still more severe upon the unfortunate Proctor. He confirmed the sentence and censured the Court for mistaken lenity.
There was this difference between Sir George Prevost and General Proctor:—Prevost was excessively cautious: Proctor was incautious to excess.
All Western Canada, with the exception of Michillimackinac, was now lost to the British. The Americans had not only recaptured Michigan, but the issue of one battle had given them a long lost territory, and the garden of Upper Canada. Harrison did not move against Michillimackinac, being persuaded that it would fall for want of provisions, but went to Buffalo and from there went to Niagara and Fort George, abandoned by General Vincent, who had fallen back, on hearing of Proctor's discomfiture, on Burlington Heights. In retreating, Vincent sent his baggage on before him, followed by the main body of his army, some three or four thousand sickly men, and kept his picquets in front of Fort George to deceive the enemy: seven companies of the 100th and the light company of the 8th regiment, and a few Indians, more men than Proctor had altogether, constituted the rear guard, and covered the retreat. The guard was closely pressed by 1,500 of the enemy, under Generals McClure and Porter, from Fort George, but the guard managed to keep them in check and enabled Vincent and Proctor to effect a junction at the heights of Burlington. The rear guard halted at Stoney Creek, but the enemy refused to give battle.